Mourinho’s Legacy

We don’t yet know the ins-and-outs of Jose Mourinho’s departure from Chelsea by “mutual consent”, and we probably won’t until his memoirs of the period hit the streets in a couple of years. But we do know the Chelsea brass have been increasingly bold in their demands for champagne football to match the money spent on the time, and that Abramovich probably has a voodoo doll wearing a very sharp suit with a lot of pins stuck in it.

We also know not even 25,000 fans turned up at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea’s Champions League game this week, the tournament that Jose famously never won with that team: was that a reflection on the saturation of Champions League games that have drawn the luster from a tournament that once made the heart stop with those rare clashes of European greats? Did it reflect inflated ticket prices, or even Chelsea’s bland style of play?

What we do also know is that the Premiership will be a duller place without Jose, unless of course he lands somewhere else there soon. I don’t believe he was anywhere near as entertaining as Brian Clough — and his teams were even further from being as entertaining as Cloughie’s — but he did bring a certain swagger and style to the touchline that we hadn’t seen for some time.

What are your thoughts as a football fan on Mourinho’s legacy in the Premiership? Did his failure to bring the style to match the substance set back the entertainment value of the league? Did you enjoy his arrogant proclamations, or despise his media-whoring nature? What do we want out of a football manager?

I’ve not been a soccer fan nor an EPL fan long enough to tell you a comprehensive take on Mourinho. However, he did seem to be one of the larger characters in the league. I always looked at him as the arrogant head of the evil empire, fueled by dirty money and boring talent. He piloted the team that a lot of people, myself included, loved to hate. I’ll certainly miss him from that team and can’t wait to see where he lands. I hope its a team where he can flex his managing muscle because I never got to see him coach in Portugal.

Good point, AG. It’s also surprisingly easy to balls up a team even with all the millions in the world — as Abramovich seems to want to insist on proving to us.

September 20, 2007 at 2:14 pmMark

Serious magic at Bolton and Fulham has already been performed. Until this year, Bolton has been a top 10 side in the Premier League for a few years now. Meanwhile, the fact that Fulham are still in the Premier League is achievement enough.

But that’s like apples and orange compared to Mourinho. He was never beaten tactically. And players under him have flourished. Terry, Drogba, Essien, Carvahlo, Cech and (though I know Tom will vomit when he reads this) even Lampardare are world class when they play for Chelsea. You could say that these players would have achieved these heights regardless. But its also easy to see how under a lesser manager these players would have faltered: just look at Lampard and Terry for England.

His record at Chelsea speaks for itself. Just the fact that they never lost a home game on his watch is amazing. Perhaps excluding a handful of teams whose managers have become synonymous with the club crest (Wenger and Fergie mainly), I don’t think there is a team in the world that wouldn’t ditch their gaffer to have Mourinho on the touchline. That’s definitely better than decent…

Regarding Bolton, you kind of prove my point Mark. Bolton were a top 10 side until what happened? They sacked a very good manager!

The bottom line is that Chelsea and Mouriniho will always suffer from the accusation that they brought success rather than built it.

Indeed, I can’t be the only one who has images in his head of Roman jumping up and down, stamping his feet and screming “I want champions league, I want champions league!”

September 21, 2007 at 5:46 amIan

As I said elsewhere, the key question for me when a manager is this: This decision will cause serious disruption within a club – how realistic is it that, in 6 to 12 months time, the club will be in a better condition than it is now?

My personal view is that Mourinho was on safe ground while his teams were winning every week, but any dip in form was going to leave him exposed because his teams don’t play very attractive football and because he had damaged relationships with members of this supposed “inner circle” at Stamford Bridge.

To answer my original question, though… Mourinho had been very successful in moulding Chelsea FC in his image, and this break-up is going to be considerably more fractious than most. The press is already reporting a number of key players questioning whether they want to stay at Chelsea, and morale amongst the playing staff will be at rock bottom. Add to this a completely unproven coach who, it would appear, doesn’t have the support of the players, and things could get very rocky indeed for Chelsea. Their match against Manchester United at the weekend will be very telling indeed as a barometer for their immediate future.